Santiago Giménez to be left out of Mexico’s World Cup squad
Despite being in top form since joining Eredivisie side Feyenoord in the summer, Mexico’s coach will not include him in the World Cup roster.
Santiago Giménez was making a case of his own to be called up to the Mexico squad that will be travel to Qatar next week for the start of the 2022 World Cup. The 21-year-old has adapted quickly to the Eredivisie with Feyenoord - the club he joined last summer and in 16 appearances across all competitions, he has scored six goals and provided two assists.
Santi to be ‘sacrificed’
Mexico’s head coach Gerardo Martino was planning to call up Santi Giménez if Raúl Jiménez didn’t fully recover from a groin injury. El Tri is currently holding a training camp in Girona, Spain and they will play two friendlies prior traveling to Qatar. The first one will be tomorrow against Iraq and on 16 November against Sweden.
The good news for Martino is that Raúl Jiménez is now training with the rest of his team mates and it looks like he will be able to be fit for that first game of the competitions against Poland on 22 November. That means Santiago Giménez will not be part of the 26-player World Cup roster that will be officially announced next week.
“We highly value Santi. I called him up when he was not a starter at Cruz Azul. Now he is a top scorer in Europe’s top tier, but he doesn’t play a lot of minutes. Currently there are other experienced players ahead of him,” said Martino during Tuesday’s press conference prior to the friendly against Iraq.
From that, it can be taken that Martino will only call up experienced strikers such as Raúl Jiménez, Henry Martín and Rogelio Funes Mor for the World Cup, leaving Santiago Giménez out of the squad. The Feyenoord striker will be included in the 29-pre World Cup list in case one of the other strikers suffers an injury during the group stage and he will have to travel to Qatar if Mexico advances to the knockout stage.